Hitchcock Basin, the beginning of the end: a shot from our nightly ascent of Mount Whitney, the highest point of our hike, and the contiguous US for that matter. The colors on the horizon are from air glow, fire and even city lights 100 miles away. The summit of Whitney is just out of the frame on the right, and you can see the lights of some of the other hikers starting to get ready for their ascent at the lower elevations.